Jaster Chryss
''Jaster Chryss, Master of the Jedi Order, Hero of Talasea, is one of the most remembered Jedi, deadliest lightsaber combatants, and discplined Jedi to attain the role of Grand Master of the Jedi Order. He is a human male.'' Biography The Beginning A beginning is the time for taking the most delicate care that the balances are correct. This every Keeper of the Whills knows. To begin your study of the life of Jaster Chryss take care that you place him in his time: born One Hundred and Forty Nine years After the Battle of Yavin. And take most special care that you place Jaster in his place: the Jedi Order. Do not be deceived by the fact that he was born on Tatooine and lived his first fifteen years there. Do not be deceived by the fact that he later vanished, leaving it in the hands of others. The Temple of the Jedi Order, on the planet Coruscant, is forever his place. It was a time of peace and prosperity throughout the galaxy. The Republic and the Empire were at peace, the Sith a distant nightmare told to scare children into blind subservience. The Jedi Knights had been judiciously keeping the peace and securing the galaxy whilst operating from their Temple on the planet of Talasea. Unlike most Jaster did not come into the world fighting and screaming. Instead he emerged calm and curious. His crystal clear, pale blue eyes had begun on that day to take in all that they could see, and never stopped since. His childhood years were spent growing up on a moisture farm near the edge of Mos Entha and were undisturbed by the events of the galaxy. No legend is ever complete unless it holds a tale of romance. It is said gravitation cannot be held responsible for people falling in love. For Jaster, however, it was as if a black hole drew him to her. It had all started with a girl. It always did. The ancient Sharu legends speak of a destined love, a karmic connection between souls that are fated to meet and collide and enrapture one another. The legends say that the loved one is instantly recognized because she’s loved in every gesture, every expression of thought, every movement, every sound, and every mood that prays in her eyes. The legends say that we know her by her wings – the wings that only we can see – and because wanting her kills every other desire of love. The same legends also carry warnings that such fated love may, sometimes, be the possession and the obsession of one, and only one, of two souls twinned by destiny. But wisdom in one sense is the opposite of love. Love survives in us precisely because it isn‘t wise. Love would from that day possess Jaster, and consequently survive in him. And only in him. His love for the maiden from Tatooine would stay within him throughout his life holding a guiding hand on the rudder of his destiny, almost as strong as the will of the Force. The first few months with Alex'ia Turin were pure bliss. Happiness unfortunately is never infinite and the girl was taken. It is wise to note here that if she had never been abducted, Jaster's life would have faded into the annals of The Whills not even being mentioned as a footnote. Tusken Raiders struck as they so often did in the wilds of Tatooine. When Jaster found out about the abduction he was already too late. By the time he had readied and mobilised his plans, another one of her friends had gone and rescued her. Alex'ia had been so heartbroken and distraught by Jaster’s failure; she had left him. For her rescuer. Beside himself, and heart broken, the young boy began to believe he was truly alone in life, alienating himself from everyone and everything. After a fight with his father one morning (about a hydrospanner that Jaster had eerily predicted was under the bench) the boy had had enough, and took off for Mos Entha. A day in the spaceport town taught him all he needed to know about the fiend who had stolen his only love – where to find him, what he did, what he held dear, and how to exact sweet revenge. However, Jaster did not have the ability, nor the skill, to kill a man. Finding an unruly and vicious mercenary in Mos Entha, Jaster signed onto his crew and spent a year traversing the systems, learning all he could about bounty hunting, killing, torture and revenge. Revenge consumed him. Perhaps if he had allowed his anger to disappear, his wounds would have healed. Revenge is a confession of pain; to Jaster it felt as if his whole world was nothing but an eternity of agony. When pricked, a man bleeds. If tickled, he laughs. If poisoned, he dies. If you wrong him, shall he not revenge? Becoming a Jedi A word about fate. The Force usually throws dice, but with fate it plays chess, and you never find out till too late its been playing with two queens all along. Fate never leaves anything up to chance, having learnt long ago that chance was the unreliable older brother who usually awoke early afternoon and then snoozed the day away. Fate gripped you and dragged you out of bed before the sun was even up and yelled, “Face your destiny.” Chryss’ destiny was thrust upon him in a most peculiar way. It was on one of the hunts that Jaster had come across a Jedi Master on Mon Calamari and after nearly being killed trying to capture the man, ended up confiding in him. Jedi Master Obi Parcon had shared a drink with the young boy and talked him into coming to the Jedi Temple on Talasea. He had spoken to the boy with a soft soothing tone, a voice that had reached past the darkness in Jaster’s heart and promised him a chance to let go of his fear and hate. A chance at something more. A few weeks later, Jaster Chryss touched down on the planet of Talasea, with a mind to speak to Parcon, to confront him and tell him that he was wrong, that revenge was his only option. To tell him that only revenge could set him free. The Force, it seems, has a sense of humour, and uses fate and destiny as the tools to tell its joke. Jaster could not find Obi Parcon anywhere. Instead he wondered through the Temple Forest where he ran into a young female Jedi Knight. Using the Force the young Knight took Jaster into a trance and helped him through some of his pain, healing what she could, turning the boy away from his vengeful path. Upon waking from his trance, Jaster could not recall exactly what had happened, but an urge and desire to join the Jedi Order was rooted within him. What Fates impose, men must abide, it boots not to resist both wind and tide. Every part of his body screamed to join the Jedi Order. It was as if nothing else mattered in his life, as if he had finally found a place where he would be accepted for who he was, a place where he belonged. Upon speaking to the Jedi Council's Master Patrick Starkiller, Jaster Chryss was accepted into the Jedi Order. The next year Jaster spent in complete isolation, training and meditating. Jaster learned rapidly because his first training was in how to learn. And the first lesson of all was the basic trust that he could learn. It's shocking to find how many people do not believe they can learn, and how many more believe learning to be difficult. Jaster knew that every experience carries its lesson. One day beside a quiet river in the forest beside the Temple, Jaster met a fellow Jedi Learner named Arkona, a female Arconan with a passion for exploring the galaxy. Jaster and Arkona formed a deep bond over the next few months training together and discovering the secrets of the Force. Their bond was pure - an innocent childlike friendship, cemented in the common goal of studying the Force. It was only natural that the two became like brother and sister. Again the Force rolled its dice and the hand it rolled came up with snake eyes. Arkona was assigned a Master, and disappeared off world, leaving the young Jedi learner to train in solitude once more. When Jaster did not hear from Arkona again, he did not question it, as Jedi were often assigned to remote and unreachable places, and continued his training. Knighthood At the age of 17, Jaster became a Jedi Knight. With his new status came a higher clearance to the Jedi archives and systems, and Jaster decided to finally find out where Arkona had been posted and contact her. To his complete horror the boy discovered that Arkona’s Master had been brutally slain, and Arkona had gone missing. Without seeking permission from the Council, Jaster set off to find her. Fearing that his training alone would not be enough Jaster began to walk a dangerous path in the pursuit of the mastery of Vaapad. With the permission of Master Starkiller, Jaster had begun to study the technique and incorporate it in his fighting style. It was during this quest for his friend that Jaster came across an old Firespray class interceptor and took the ship as his own, knowing he would need something to operate from and search the galaxy with. He named the ship The Tinnuviel - from a poem he recalled writing for his first love. The name meant: Daughter of the starry twilight. Or Nightingale, depending on how one translated it from ancient Sharu. Realising that a ship would not be all Jaster would need, he travelled back to Tatooine for the first time in two years. While there he made no attempt to see his family or anyone from his past, instead he pretended as if they did not exist, and focused on his goal: To capture and kill a Krayt dragon. Jaster had heard that Krayt dragon pearls made remarkable focus crystals for a lightsaber. With the help of some local mercenaries, Jaster had killed the Krayt and taken both its pearl and bone to begin crafting his sabre. The Krayt pearl found in the dragon had been a peculiar singularity – normally a Krayt pearl created a white sabre blade, but this pearl caused the blade of Jaster to be completely black. The handle of his sabre was carved out of Krayt bone and Jaster later added several Mandalorian symbols to the hilt. Before Jaster could finally set out on his quest he made a final trip: to purchase armour and weapons from Stellar Enterprises. Jaster helped design and finalise his beskar crossed laminaium beskar'gam suit of armour and two revolver SE Kolt 40-50 blaster pistols. To attempt an understanding of Jaster Chryss without understanding his mortal enemies, the Sith, is to attempt seeing Truth without knowing Falsehood. It is the attempt to see the Light without knowing Darkness. It cannot be. Throughout his years in the Jedi Order, Jaster encountered Sith wherever he went, and soon it became apparent that they would forever be pertinent in his story. The atrocities committed by them upon the young Jedi would forever shape them into more than enemies: it would turn them to eternal foes. Finally ready, Jaster began to track Arkona across the galaxy. Using the Force, Jaster eventually located the Arconan girl in a Sith Temple on Korriban. Upon encountering the Sith, Jaster began to fight in his new Vaapad stance, channeling all his anger from his past into the form, and found that with surprising ease he cut his way through the Sith warriors. Once he stepped through the myriad of bodies he found Arkona. Instead of welcoming Jaster with open arms, the girl scolded him for coming and his apparent use of the dark side, and vanished before his eyes. The sudden disappearance of his friend left him feeling empty, and frightened. Alone, Jaster sat down in the Sith Temple to try reach Arkona through the Force. He did not succeed, yet as he slipped into meditation he instead was visited by a terrible Force premonition. Jaster saw what historians would later call the Fall of Talasea. In his vision he saw dark Sith demons ripping through the bodies of his fellow Jedi, toppling the Order and eradicating the last force for good in the universe. The Fall of Talasea With all haste he had returned to Talasea to warn the Order. But his pleas and begging fell on deaf ears. How could a young Knight foresee what an entire Council could not, the Masters reasoned? He would in later years say perhaps it was the Force that guided him, or perhaps simply youthful recklessness, but his next course of action saved the Jedi from certain destruction. Without the Council's permission Chryss had managed to secure the use, and more importantly the loyalty of the crew, of the Quel Fara - a Jedi Star destroyer. Knowing that the only way to ensure the existence of the Order was through its members he declared that he intended to take the learners and apprentices to the edge of the galaxy - to meditate and study the galaxy through the Force from a far. He had taken a large portion of the younglings aboard the Quel Fara. Jaster had duplicated the Temple records onto the specially designed databanks in the Quel Fara under the guise of backing up the Temple Archives. When the Fall of Talasea happened, Jedi Knight Jaster Chryss and the Quel Fara were safely hidden in the Unknown Regions. Little is known about the years the Quel Fara spent in hiding, until one day, leaving the Quel Fara, Jaster began to search the galaxy for remaining Jedi in an attempt to regroup and rebuild the Order. When Gallonar, a former Jedi, tracked down the Quel Fara and surrendered it to the Sith, Jaster was half way across the galaxy. However, most of the learners had been removed from the Quel Fara as these events had been predicted by other Jedi Masters. The Quel Fara was severely damaged in this battle, and to the knowledge of the rest of the Order, scuttled in deep space. On Ossus the Order tried to regroup and regain its composure, but this too was short lived. It seemed that the Sith were determined to finally remove the Jedi from the galaxy and fulfill their role in Chryss' tale as archfiend and nemesis. However despite their fiercest attempt, the Sith were eventually driven back into the darkness, and the Jedi Order rebuilt. One of the last remaining Sith chose this time to strike at Jaster, wanting revenge for ruining their plans at destroying the Jedi for good. The Dark Lord Phobos captured Jaster’s parents. Phobos eradicated their minds, and replaced their memories with a single objective: Kill or destroy Jaster Chryss. No one should ever have to do what the young Jedi endured that day - no one should have to slay his own parents. Despite his best attempts, Chryss had no alternative but to end the lives of his parents, and to his dismay, watch Phobos escape. Christopher Knox came into Jaster’s life more by fluke than by any design of the Force, but far too often did the Force use happenstance to cause prophecy. Knox was a lot older than the 22-year-old Knight at the time Chryss took him as his apprentice, but never the less, the two were an unstoppable Master-Padawan pair. Knox was Knighted a year after his apprenticeship began. Fearing what might happen to Knox should the man ever try Vaapad, Chryss never taught his apprentice the form, choosing instead to keep it secret from him throughout their partnership. Leaving a legacy At age 23 Jaster Chryss became a Jedi Master and was elected to the Jedi Council. Many said that he was too young, but the demand for capable leaders after the Sith slaughter was too great to ignore. He served beside such notable Masters as Niomi Sykes and Jistu Manda. Jistu and Jaster spearheaded several campaigns across the galaxy in the name of peace, serving as swift and just retribution for any who dared consider the path of evil. The two together were unstoppable – a force of nature. With Niomi by his side Jaster led the Order into a golden era of long needed peace. If not for them the time of rest awarded to the Jedi would have slipped away and resulted in its final destruction in the chaos that followed. Knowing that even their golden era could not last, that one day the Order would need the Quel Fara again, Jaster had issued orders to have the ship returned from where it had been abandoned, and rebuilt, refurnished, refitted and made space worthy once more. It has been said in the annals of The Whills of Chryss’ persistence in ensuring the safety of the Order that the ability and desire to survive would be passed on from generation to generation, instilling in the Jedi Order a sense of survival unlike any it had contained before. This sense of survival was comparable to the endurance of the Vaapad creature on which Chryss saber form was based. Unconditional Love Jaster made a return trip to Tatooine, after a deceased Knight by the name of Barbosa Kirek appeared to him as a spectre. On Tatooine, of all places, Jaster met Keira Sparrow. Sensing the Force potential in her, Jaster had freed the young slave. Upon discovering the name of the slave master, and later how he treated her, Jaster had snapped and succumbed to the blood fever that was an inherent risk in Vaapad. For the first time, Chryss delved into the energy of the dark side to punish a man. Unknown to Keira though, the man who was her slave master, named Aro Ste Bas, ended up being the same man who had stolen Chryss’ childhood love from him all those years ago. Perhaps the urge to teach the man the error of his ways had started with the slave issue, but Jaster knew the truth in his heart. Returning to Coruscant with Keira, Jaster proceeded to train the young women in the ways of the Jedi. The apprenticeship was a blessing to the two of them, much like the love that sprung from their time together. After she was Knighted, Jaster and Keira were wed. Their wedding ceremony had taken place on the beaches of Mon Calamari and dignitaries from the Republic and the Empire had come to pay their respects. Jedi from across the galaxy had come together to celebrate this joyous occasion. Their marriage was, to both of them, a reward for persisting through life so long alone. It was a decision to ignore, to simply rise above the pain of the past. A belief in each other and the possibility of love. A covenant which at once bound their souls and severed all prior ties. The ceremony was a celebration of a chance taken and the challenge that lay ahead. The two of them together would forever be stronger than one – a team braced against the tempest of the known galaxy. On the day she became a Jedi Master, Keira informed Jaster of the wonderful news that they were to have a son. The two had previously believed their happiness with each other could not grow anymore, now it overflowed. Nine months later Jacht Chryss was born into the twilight of a Coruscant night, a young boy with the same pale blue eyes of his father and his mother’s auburn hair. Several years later, the golden era of Chryss, Manda and Sykes ended. Knowing that he needed to take action, as the remaining Jedi Master’s were dwindling, Jaster Chryss became the Grand Master of the Jedi Order. Leadership should be born out of the understanding of the needs of those who are affected by it, and Chryss knew that to do this he must walk the path of a practical man and a realist, yet he speak the language of the visionary and the idealist. Chryss led not through orders and demands – he strode forward blazing a new trail on the path of the Jedi - leading through inspiration and by example. The Dark Times It had been over ten years since Jaster had heard from his brother and when a message came to meet him the Grand Master went at once. He was never seen in the Temple again. Kostas Chryss, Jaster’s younger brother, had kidnapped Jaster after luring him to Yavin IV. Jaster’s astromech unit, Spry, was trapped on Yavin IV and unable to notify anyone of the kidnapping. Taking Jaster to a strange forest world, Kostas introduced Jaster to the concept of the Unifying Force. He told him how the planet they were on had taught him the truth of the Force. Agreeing to learn more of this planet, Jaster had been meditating in a cave, when a strange being calling itself Sekot had appeared to him. It had told Jaster that the planet he was on was Zonama Sekot, and begun to educate the Jedi in the ways of the Unifying Force. Jaster learned that the Force did not have sides, in fact, it never even took sides. Sekot had told Chryss that the Force was everything, and everything was the Force. When Jaster finally emerged from the cave, weeks later, he was a changed man from the Jedi who had ventured into the cave before. In his visions in the cave, Jaster had learned of Kostas’ true intentions: To use Zonama Sekot for his own personal dark desires. Chryss had confronted his brother and the two had begun a duel that had been their whole lives in the writing. The Force dealt a round of cards, and Jaster held the winning hand. With Kostas begging for his life, Jaster considered everything he had learned from Sekot. Deciding that it was for the good of the Force, for the good of the galaxy, he ensured his brother became one with the Force. Seeing what Jaster had become, and feeling the darkness emanating from him, Sekot moved Zonama the instant Chryss was off planet, and the fallen Jedi never managed to return to the planet to further his training. With his newfound belief in the Unifying Force, Jaster Chryss abandoned any hopes of returning to the Jedi Order. Fearing the remaining Masters would not understand, Chryss struck out on solo quest. He knew to complete his final mission he would have to venture forth alone and chose to cease acknowledging any existence of a family or the fact that he had a son. Through his isolation, Chryss began a descent into darkness. Believing that through mastering the concept of the Unifying Force, Jaster could finally ensure an era of peace longer than any before, Chryss began to delve further and further into abilities many considered to be unnatural. Assuming the name of Krath, the man stepped into shadow without fear, complaint or regret. He became bathed in the darkness of the Force - all with the intention of the greater good. Krath assuaged himself with promises that everything he did would be for the greater good and that any harm caused would be outweighed by the benefits his era of prosperity would bring. Convinced that the Force required balance for the Unifying Force to be effective, Krath went to Tatooine one last time, to right the wrong afflicted to him in his childhood. They say that for the first time in centuries, lightning and thunder echoed across the Dune Sea as Krath marched upon the house of Aro Ste Bas. Revenge that had been years in planning, revenge that had then been forgotten as the former Jedi pursued his new life, finally came to fruition. Krath had lost everything by that point and was truly free to do anything. The atrocities committed that night have been left from these records, the Keeper finding it only necessary to note that no remains were ever found of Aro Ste Bas, only a blackened pit where his home had been. Deciding that there was only one way to truly spread his vision, Krath had formed an uneasy alliance with Seranity Scott. Together, the two planned to seize control of the Empire, using a clone of the dead Emperor. When Seranity and Krath had snuck onto the Quel Fara to retrieve information vital to their success, Keira and Seranity had ended up duelling, with Seranity ending the fight by ending Keira’s life. Although Keira had been apart of another life, seeing her had jolted something deep within him - a fleeting memory of a moment shared in the sun. Her death had been unexpected and shocked him to the core. Concluding that to pursue his new order, Krath would have to do it on his own. Abandoning Seranity, Krath fled from the Quel Fara. Krath began to scour the galaxy for months, searching for something that would enable him to finally seize control of the Empire. His search eventually led him to Coruscant, where he planned to infiltrate the Jedi Temple and steal records and an ancient holocron. However, a part of his old presence was still detectable, and an old friend felt the familiarity as he approached the Temple. Rebirth Jedi Master Niomi Sykes, mother of his departed wife, eventually found Krath, and confronted him on the rain-swept precipice of darkness characteristic of a Coruscant night. Niomi saw through the hate, anger and layers of deceit that had been spun around the old Jaster Chryss. Recognising her friend through all the pain, sadness and sorrow that enveloped him, Niomi finally reasoned Jaster into letting her help him. The whipping wind blew harshly across the building, taking with it the last of Krath, and leaving only a vulnerable and emotionally drained shell of a man. Niomi took it upon herself to help Jaster rebuild his shattered being, keeping his existence secret to the rest of the Order -even from his son. Jaster did not return to the Jedi Order, although he stayed near it, where Niomi helped retrain, refocus and reform what Jaster once was. He hoped one day to have his affairs in order so that he could return to the Temple, carrying the light that once burned so bright within him. Jaster knew that his path as a Jedi was far from finished, in fact, it seemed as if it had just begun anew. Chryss accompanied Niomi on many of her missions off-planet, fearing for the safety of the last person who had any connection to him and the Temple of old, and swearing to protect her. The last anybody had heard of Niomi and Jaster, the two had gone off into the Unknown Regions to investigate something that could only be described as: “The coming darkness…” Do not think this is the end. The end of what? The story? There is no end, there is only the point where the storyteller stops talking… Profile Personality traits As a youth Jaster was impulsive, recklesss and very stubborn. As he matured however Jaster grew far more patient, wise, disciplined and serene. Hobbies Cooking Skills As a young Knight, Jaster trained in several styles of lightsaber combat, and mastered the art of Vaapad. He was an exceptional pilot, his abilities heightened by his connection to the Force. His leadership ability was held in the highest regards by his fellow Jedi Masters. In his years as a Master, Jaster studied manipulating matter through the Force, learning to modify atoms at elemental level. Jaster also showed an unnatural talent for cooking, and was known to enjoy some of the stranger delicacies in the galaxy.